Racing: Staying Positive

A crucial tool for managing the pain

In general, runners are positive people—and those who compete at the highest levels of the sport may be extraordinarily so. After all, they have to be. Thinking positively despite overwhelmingly challenging situations is a crucial tool for managing the pain and difficulty that comes from racing well—and to do so week in and week out, year after year.

It isn’t always easy to continue to think positively in the heat of competition. When Craig Mottram won the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City in September, he did it in convincing style, catching and passing pre-race favorite Alan Webb with less than 150 meters to go and powering on to victory in 3:49.9, the eighth fastest time in the 25-year history of the event. But 700 meters into the race, the winning outcome was far from clear to Mottram.

Pacemaker John Itati had taken the runners through the first quarter in 54 seconds—a tad quick for a 5,000m specialist like Mottram—and he backed off the pace. Webb, on the other hand, a mile specialist, was unfazed by the quick pace and stayed on Itati’s shoulder through 800 meters in a brisk 1:54. “I was a bit worried at that point because Alan was way out front and there were people around me that I couldn’t count out,” Mottram related.

To Mottram, the physical imperative over the second half of the race was clear: He had to accelerate and thereby reel Webb in—doing so, of course, more swiftly than any of the other runners around him and timing his move to minimize the chance that Webb would be able to respond.

In order to execute physically, Mottram’s mental attitude was crucial. He had to think positively—to believe that the physical challenges of the race could be met, or at least were within the realm of what was possible. “I had to stay calm and keep my momentum going,” Mottram recounted. He focused on what he considers one of his greatest strengths as a middle-distance runner: his long, powerful stride. “I know that once I get my momentum going, I can power by a lot of people,” Mottram said. He patiently cut into Webb’s lead, eventually striding steadily past.

The key to Mottram’s mindset was recognizing that he could only control his own actions—not Webb’s. Too many runners waste valuable race-day energy focusing on the competition. Yes, Webb might have accelerated when Mottram drew up on his shoulder, but rather than dwelling on that, Mottram stayed focused on his own race. “I just tried to time my move right and keep pressing even after I’d passed him,” he said.

That kind of confidence, of course, springs from putting in the physical work of hard, smart training between races. But on race day, even a well-trained runner can sabotage his effort with negative or unproductive thoughts. Bottom line: Believe in what you’ve done to get to the start line, focus on what is possible, and use both your physical and mental strengths to produce the best outcome on the day.